• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.43 no.3
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• pp.452-459
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• 2019

Background: Ginsenoside compound K(C-K), a major metabolite of ginsenoside, exhibits anticancer activity in various cancer cells and animal models. A cell signaling study has shown that C-K inhibited nuclear factor-kappa B ($NF-{\kappa}B$) pathway in human astroglial cells and liver cancer cells. However, the molecular targets of C-K and the initiating events were not elucidated. Methods: Interaction between C-K and Annexin A2 was determined by molecular docking and thermal shift assay. HepG2 cells were treated with C-K, followed by a luciferase reporter assay for $NF-{\kappa}B$, immunofluorescence imaging for the subcellular localization of Annexin A2 and $NF-{\kappa}B$ p50 subunit, coimmunoprecipitation of Annexin A2 and $NF-{\kappa}B$ p50 subunit, and both cell viability assay and plate clone formation assay to determine the cell viability. Results: Both molecular docking and thermal shift assay positively confirmed the interaction between Annexin A2 and C-K. This interaction prevented the interaction between Annexin A2 and $NF-{\kappa}B$ p50 subunit and their nuclear colocalization, which attenuated the activation of $NF-{\kappa}B$ and the expression of its downstream genes, followed by the activation of caspase 9 and 3. In addition, the overexpression of Annexin A2-K320A, a C-K binding-deficient mutant of Annexin A2, rendered cells to resist C-K treatment, indicating that C-K exerts its cytotoxic activity mainly by targeting Annexin A2. Conclusion: This study for the first time revealed a cellular target of C-K and the molecular mechanism for its anticancer activity.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.44 no.2
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• pp.200-207
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• 2015

Various natural products or their derivatives, mostly originating from plants, fungi, and bacteria, have been exploited as therapeutic drugs to treat various human diseases. In addition to previously explored organisms, research on natural compounds has now expanded into unexamined living organisms in order to identify novel bioactive substances. Here, we determined whether or not the larval form of the mealworm beetle Tenebrio molitor, a species of darkling beetle, contains cytotoxic substances that exclusively affect cancer cell viability. Ethanol extract and its solvent partitioned fractions, hexane and ethyl acetate fractions, showed anticancer effects against various human cancer cells derived from the prostate (PC3 and 22Rv1), cervix (HeLa), liver (PLC/PRF5, HepG2, Hep3B, and SK-HEP-1), colon (HCT116), lung (NCI-H460), breast (MDA-MB231), and ovary (SKOV3). Cell death induced by the fractions was a mix of apoptosis, necrosis, and autophagy. The hexane fraction was administered intraperitoneally to nude mice bearing a hepatocellular carcinoma SK-HEP-1 and showed inhibition of tumor growth in vivo. Therefore, we concluded that worm extracts contain cytotoxic substances, which can be enriched by proper fractionation protocols, and further separation and purification could lead to the identification of novel molecules to treat human cancers.

• Korean Journal of Korean Medical Institute of Dermatology and Aesthetics
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.127-144
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• 2005

This study compared the activity of the aerial part of P. japonicum with its root in order to examine the possibility of the medicinal use of the aerial part, which has not been used as medicine, in substitute for the root that has traditionally been used as medicine. For this purpose, the author measured the proliferation of Human $CD4^-$ T cells, which are related to immunity, the differentiation of HL-60 cells, and the contents of IL-6, IgE and $TNF-{\alpha}$ and compared their anti-cancer effect on Hep3B and A549 cells. The results of this study are as follows: 1. As for Human $CD4^-$ T cells, $1.0\;g/{\ell}$ methanol extract from the aerial part promoted the proliferation of the cells 1.8 times higher while $1.0\;g/{\ell}$ methanol extract from the root did by 1.76 times higher compared to the control group. 2. As for HL-60 cells, methanol extract and water extract from the aerial part showed differentiation 1.14 times higher and 1.12 times higher respectively while methanol extract and water extract from the root did 1.14 times higher and 1.07 times higher compared to tile control group. 3. Cell density was highest on Day 4 of culture in all samples, Methanol extracts from the aerial part and the root showed activities of $7.9{\times}10^3\;cells/m{\ell}$ and $7.5{\times}10^3\;cells/m{\ell}$ respectively, and water extracts from the aerial part and the root did activities of $5.3{\times}10^3\;cells/m{\ell}$ and $6.1{\times}10^3\;cells/m{\ell}$. 4. The secretion of IL-6 was highest on Day 4 of culture. Methanol extracts from the aerial part and the root showed secretions of $6.7{\times}10^{-3}\;pg/cells/m{\ell}$ and $7.2{\times}10^{-3}\;pg/cells/m{\ell}$ respectively, and water extracts from the aerial part and the root did secretions of as high as $7.0{\times}10^{-3}\;pg/cells/m{\ell}$ and $6.0{\times}10^{-3}\;pg/cells/m{\ell}$. 5. As for the production of IgE, water extract from the root effectively inhibited the product at $1,000\;{\mu}g/m{\ell}$, methanol extract from the root at $10\;{\mu}g/m{\ell}$ and $100\;{\mu}g/m{\ell}$, water extract from the aerial at $1,000\;{\mu}g/m{\ell}$, and methanol extract from the aerial part at $1,000\;{\mu}g/m{\ell}$. 6. According to the result of measuring the content of $TNF-{\alpha}$, methanol extracts from the root and the aerial part showed inhibition effect at $10\;{\mu}g/m{\ell}$, $100\;{\mu}g/m{\ell}$ and $1,000\;{\mu}g/m{\ell}$. 7. As for liver cancer cell Hep3B, $1.0\;g/{\ell}$ methanol extracts from the root and the aerial part showed inhibition effects of 78% and 70% respectively, and $1.0\;g/{\ell}$ water extracts from the root and the aerial part did inhibition effects of 56% and 59%. 8. As for lung cancer cell A549, $1.0\;g/{\ell}$ methanol extracts from the root and the aerial part showed inhibition effects of 75% and 70% respectively, and $1.0\;g/{\ell}$ water extracts from the root and the aerial part did inhibition effects of 48% and 45%. The results of this study presented above show that the aerial part of P. japonicum has immunizing and anti-cancer effects as high as its root, which has commonly been used as medicine. There should be more in-depth research on the aerial part of P. japonicum in the future.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.36 no.11
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• pp.1371-1376
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• 2007

The effect of Hovenia dulcis Thumb leaves on the mutagenicity in salmonella assay and inhibitory effects on the growth of cancer cells were studied. On antimutagenicity as evaluated by Ames test, the extract and fractions of Hovenia dulcis Thumb leaves had no effect on the mutagenicity by themselves. However, methanol extract and fractions from Hovenia dulcis Thumb showed strong inhibitory effect on the mutagenesis induced by N-methyl-N#-nitro-N-nitroso-guanidine (MNNG) and benzo(a)pyrene (B(a)P). Among the solvent fractions of methanol extract, the hexane, chloroform and butanol fraction exhibited stronger inhibitory activity against MNNG and B(a)P induced mutagenesis than water fraction. For anticancer effects, Hovenia dulcis Thumb loaves extract and fractions against cancer cell lines including HepG2 and HT29 were investigated. The methanol extract, the hexane fraction and the chloroform fraction of Hovenia dulcis Thumb leaves inhibited growth of cancer cells but they had no effect on the cytotoxicity of normal human liver cells under the same conditions.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.32 no.5
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• pp.551-563
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• 2022

L-asparaginase (E.C. 3.5.1.1) purified from bacterial cells is widely used in the food industry, as well as in the treatment of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia. In the present study, the Burkholderia pseudomallei L-asparaginase gene was cloned into the pGEX-2T DNA plasmid, expressed in E. coli BL21 (DE3) pLysS, and purified to homogeneity using Glutathione Sepharose chromatography with 7.26 purification fold and 16.01% recovery. The purified enzyme exhibited a molecular weight of ~33.6 kDa with SDS-PAGE and showed maximal activity at 50℃ and pH 8.0. It retained 95.1, 89.6%, and 70.2% initial activity after 60 min at 30℃, 40℃, and 50℃, respectively. The enzyme reserved its activity at 30℃ and 37℃ up to 24 h. The enzyme had optimum pH of 8 and reserved 50% activity up to 24 h. The recombinant enzyme showed the highest substrate specificity towards L-asparaginase substrate, while no detectable specificity was observed for L-glutamine, urea, and acrylamide at 10 mM concentration. THP-1, a human leukemia cell line, displayed significant morphological alterations after being treated with recombinant L-asparaginase and the IC₅₀ of the purified enzyme was recorded as 0.8 IU. Furthermore, the purified recombinant Lasparaginase improved cytotoxicity in liver cancer HepG2 and breast cancer MCF-7 cell lines, with IC₅₀ values of 1.53 and 18 IU, respectively.

• Korean Journal of Medicinal Crop Science
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.132-138
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• 2002

This study was performed to determine the antimutagenic and cytotoxic effect of ,Kalopanacis cortex endothelium. Methanol extract was used on Salmonella typhimurium TA98, TA100 and three cancer cell lines. In the Ames test, methanol extract of Kalopanacis cortex endothelium alone did not exhibit any mutagenicity but showed substantial inhibitory effects against mutation induced by 4-nitroquinoline-l-oxide(4NQO), N'-methyl- N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine(MNNG) and benzo(a)pyrene(B(a)P). The methanol extract of Kalopanacis cortex endothelium showed approximately 79.29% and 75.38% inhibitory effect on the mutagenesis induced by 4NQO and B(a)P, respectively, against TA98 strain. Whereas 79.49%, 89.3% and 68.85% inhibitions were observed on the mutagenesis induced by 4NQO, MNNG and B(a)P against TA100 strain. Methanol extracts from Kalopanacis cortex endothelium showed high antimutagenic effects against 4NQO, MNNG and B(a)P. The anticancer effects of methanol extract from Kalopanacis cortex endothelium against human lung carcinoma(A549), human breast adenocarcinoma (MCF-7) and human hepatocellular carcinoma(Hep3B) were investigated. The treatment of 0.5mg/ml Kalopanacis cortex endothelium methanol extracts had the highest cytotoxicity against A549(81.54%), followed by MCF-7(81.92%) and Hep3B (78.57%). In contrast 0.5mg/ml treatment of methanol extracts from Kalopanacis cortex endothelium had only $4{\sim}25%$ cytotoxicity on normal human liver cell(293).

• BMB Reports
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• v.31 no.6
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• pp.578-584
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• 1998

In a previous paper (Kim et al., 1996a), the immediate 5' -flanking region and coding region of the human UDP-N -acetylglucosamine:-D-mannoside-1,4-Nacetylglucosaminyltransferase III (N-acetylglucosaminyitransferase- III; GnT-III) gene was reported, isolated and analyzed. Herein, we report on amplification of a new 5' -noncoding region of the GnT-III mRNA by single-strand ligation to single-stranded cDNA-PCR (5' -RACE PCR) using poly(A)+ RNA isolated from human fetal liver cells. A cDNA clone was obtained with 5' sequences (96 bp) that diverged seven nucleotides upstream from the ATG (+1) start codon. A concensus splice junction sequence, TCTCCCGCAG, was found immediately 5' to the position where the sequences of the cDNA diverged. The result suggested the presence of an intron in the 5' -noncoding region and that the cDNA was an incompletely reversetranscribed cDNA product derived from an mRNA containing a new noncoding exon. When mRNA expression of GnT-III in various human tissues and cancer cell lines was examined, Northern blot analysis indicated high expression levels of GnT-III in human fetal kidney and brain tissues, as well as for a number of leukemia and lymphoma cancer cell lines. Promoter activities of the 5' -flanking regions of exon 1 and the new noncoding region were measured in a human hepatoma cell line, HepG2, by luciferase assays. The 5'-flanking region of exon 1 was the most active, whilst that of exon 2 was inactive.